12 Days of Sybil and Tom
by Zip Goes A Million
Summary: The story of Sybil and Tom as they spend from December 25th to January 5th spending their lives together - making gingerbread men, building snowmen and much more. Done as a modern AU and unrelated to anything else. (Most chapters will not be rated M, but the first chapter is - think of it as a Christmas present for all the Sybil/Tom shippers!)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Christmas Day**

Sybil was sat in front of the open fire in her old Irish house. She loved staring at the flickering flames, hearing them crackle gently and letting her thoughts run away with her. Her knees were bent in front of her chest and her arms were wrapped around her shins. She rested her chin in the gap between her knees and stared straight ahead, waiting for her husband to return to the room. When he finally did, he sat beside his wife and handed her one of the two glasses of red wine he was holding, keeping the other one for himself. He sat next to her on the floor and placed one arm around her back, his hand resting on her left shoulder. She leant into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. He turned his head to press a kiss through her mass of tangled dark brown curls. She leant into him closer when he tightened his grip around her body. "Merry Christmas, love," Sybil said quietly, still staring at the fire. Tom smiled silently and repeated her words. Then he added,

"You look beautiful, by the way, Syb."

"No I don't. Thanks for the compliment, but I really don't look that great. Have you seen me today?" Sybil's hair was super scruffy, despite the fact that she'd brushed it more than once throughout the course of the day, her makeup was minimal apart from her red lipstick, which she'd reapplied only about half an hour previously and she was dressing for comfort and warmth rather than to please anyone else. Although she wasn't self-conscious about herself in any way, especially not with Tom, she was aware that she didn't look her best at this moment in time. She was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, which were half covered by extremely thick and fluffy knee-high red socks with a repeated pattern of Christmas puddings, which had always been her favourite part about Christmas day. She was also wearing a long sleeved bright red top, which was covered by one of Tom's old jumpers, which Sybil loved almost more than she loved Tom himself.

"Yes, I have seen you today and you look gorgeous, as you always do. And you say that you can take a compliment, but you're not doing it properly if you say 'thanks, but…' You need to learn to leave out anything after the word thanks."

"I really can't be bothered to argue with you. All that will happen is that you'll win and then I'll feel inferior," Sybil said, knowing that she had very little energy to do much talking.

"Why would you feel inferior? Feminism isn't about females winning everything, you know. In a feminist world, women would win 50% of the time and men would win 50% of the time," Tom said, restating what Sybil had told him time and time again.

"I know that, but you know more than anyone else in the world that I'm a strong-minded person with strong views and strong opinions that are rarely changed."

"Yeah, I know, but that shouldn't make you feel inferior or inadequate when you lose an argument, love. You're the person I love most in the world. Surely that means something?" Tom asked gently, trying to comfort Sybil.

"Yeah, of course it does. It means everything. And I love you with all my heart, Tom, but you know that I'm not looking my best and you're just saying that I look good to be nice."

"I'm not _just saying_ anything. Sybil, you're the most beautiful woman I know and you have the best personality by far of anyone that I've ever met. I came up to talk to you for a reason, I then asked you out for a reason, I fell in love with you for a reason, proposed to you for a reason and married you for a reason. It started because I looked at you and was mesmerised by you, and then it kept going because I realised that you weren't all beauty, you actually had more brains that I thought you would and then I got to know you properly. I made sure it went on because I fell in love with the real you. Not the you who dresses up and wears makeup on dates and tries not to complain about your life to save me the trouble, but I fell in love with the you who wakes up in the morning with your hair defying every physical law and who shouts at me until you've got some coffee in you, and the you who breaks down in tears when work gets too much and who's covered in flour because you've been making shortbread and blasting Queen from the CD player when I walk in through the front door. Sybil, I love everything about you and I cannot tell you how much more I'd love to find out about you, but you won't let me do anything in the way of finding something out until you admit that you actually are pretty damn perfect."

"There isn't that much more to find out about me to be honest. You've known me for years, Tom, and you know basically everything."

"Do I now?" Tom teased.

"Yep, you know that I can't make a cupcake to save my life, you know everything that I know about my family and you know that you're the most important thing in the world to me."

"Yeah, I'll grant you that I know that much about you, but I didn't know that Johnny asked you out until last week. I'm always finding out new things about you. And I've recently learned that you have almost no tolerance for cold whatsoever!"

"Yeah, talking about that, how do you manage in only a T-shirt? Aren't you absolutely frozen?"

"No, I'm fine. I grew up with not a great amount of money, so we wore clothes until they fell apart and I always helped my mum and dad with everything around the house and in the garden. We didn't have much but we had pride in our home," Tom explained, reminiscing about his childhood. Sybil stayed silent and didn't look at Tom. "What's wrong?" Tom asked. He expected Sybil to have replied with more banter, so it was rather out of the ordinary for her not to reply instantly.

"Nothing," Sybil said very quietly.

"Hey, don't lie to me," Tom said very softly. "Something's obviously getting you down and you were fine a minute ago. What did I say?"

"Nothing. Not anything in particular." Tom squeezed Sybil a little tighter to encourage her to keep talking. "Well, our childhoods were so different. Sometimes I feel like you're guilting me into thinking that we shouldn't be together."

"Hey, no, I'm not trying to guilt you into anything. You know I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, I know you didn't mean anything by it, but I feel like maybe I shouldn't be with you sometimes."

"Sybil, I love you. And if you remember any of your physics from school, you'll know that opposites attract." Sybil laughed at this and pushed Tom over playfully. Tom, however overbalanced and almost fell over backwards. When Sybil tried to catch him to stop him from colliding with the floor, she over-judged how far she had to reach and she ended up practically throwing her wine all over him. Tom laughed at this and Sybil clapped a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my God, Tom! I'm so sorry!"

"Syb, it's fine," Tom said as he took his top off over his head. "I told you, I can deal with the cold without a problem."

"That's rather a good thing isn't it?" Sybil said, changing her tune and staring at her husband's chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're not cold and I don't think I'm going to be cold for long."

"Lady Sybil Branson! What are you suggesting?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm suggesting, Mr Tom Branson," Sybil said seductively. She moved hers and Tom's glasses out of the way, so as not to spill any more wine and then shimmied her way over to Tom so that she could push him over onto his back. She straddled his stomach with her legs and bent forwards so that she could kiss him deeply.

"You little minx!" Tom said in a low voice as his wife splayed her hands out over his chest fondly.

"Merry Christmas," Sybil whispered in his ear. She left a line of kisses along his jaw, along his clavicle and down his chest until she got to his hip bones. She knew all too well that if she kissed his hip bones lightly it would cause him to groan loudly. And groan he did. She barely touched him – hardly even brushed her lips over the skin, but his groan was louder than Sybil thought it would be. She took great pleasure in being able to satisfy him when even he wasn't sure that he needed satisfying. Tom thrust his hips forward instinctively as if it were a reflex. Tom had no hope of hiding his need for his wife. But Sybil was feeling remarkably similar, and she knew that she would also not be able to walk away without having made love to her husband. The two of them were nothing like each other, yet they were also exactly the same. Tom often thought that love was a strange thing and without it, his life would be nothing. He'd often wondered where he'd be and what he'd be doing if he'd never met Sybil or if she had refused to go out with him or marry him. Sybil could feel her cheeks beginning to go red. She slithered up her husband's body slowly, almost torturing him and depriving him of what he really wanted. Sybil planted a kiss heavily on Tom's warm lips, but then sat up, still with one leg either side of his waist and crossed her arms across her front to take her favourite of Tom's jumpers off, followed by her own plain red top. She sat there and simply stared at Tom, who was staring at her chest. She was wearing a black bra, which was topped with blue lace. It wasn't see-through, but it certainly was something sexy that very definitely pleased Tom! He pushed himself up slightly and leant on his elbows, staring at his gorgeous wife, utterly speechless.

Sybil then stood up over him and offered him a hand to pull him up off the floor. He took it willingly and lifted himself from the carpeted floor. "Come on," Sybil said, not letting go of his hand as she began to walk out of the room. "The floor's uncomfortable; I'd rather being doing this on a mattress so that I can enjoy it as much as humanly possible." Tom agreed with her completely. The floor seemed more spontaneous, but they had learned from drunken experience and they had decided that the floor was a really bad place to have sex. Tom let her lead him away from the fire and upstairs to their small, but rather perfect bedroom. It was theirs, and there was never the chance of Tom's mother bursting in with morning tea (an experience from before their marriage, when they were staying at her house before finding one of their own, that both Tom and Sybil tried desperately to forget) or of Anna or another maid walking in with a clean dress because they had accidentally tugged the bell cord when they were rolling about with each other. Sometimes Sybil thought that the old-fashioned traditions of her family were by far the worst thing about the family she was born into. This house was theirs, and it was in the middle of nowhere and it was perfect for them. As soon as they reached their bedroom, Sybil flung herself backwards onto the bed, staring up at Tom and biting her lip seductively.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Tom asked while he walked over to Sybil and straddled her just as she had done him earlier. Tom trailed his hands softly over her skin, from her hipbones, over her stomach, over her covered breasts (although the black and red fabric did nothing to cover the fact that her nipples were hardening), and then over her collarbones. Sybil reached up and tangled her hands in his hair and he placed his hands on her waist. She locked them together in a deep kiss which caused Tom to collapse on top of her. But despite this, Tom still managed to keep himself light on Sybil's body, knowing that he'd crush her if he were to put all of his weight on her. He carefully rolled the two of them over, so that she was now sitting on top of him in what would have been the perfect place, had there not been layers of fabric between them. Sybil leant down slowly to kiss him, teasing him and not giving him everything he wanted. But he was adamant that he would get his way, so he slowly trailed his fingers along Sybil's back, starting from her jeans and moving his way up her spine. He stopped when he reached her bra, and swiftly and almost without effort undid it, causing the garment to fall down Sybil's arms and lay across Tom's chest. She quickly flung it out of the way and Tom revelled in the sight of her breasts. Despite the fact that they lived together and slept in the same room at the same time every night, it had been below freezing for much of the month and Sybil had taken to sleeping in layers of fabric just to keep her body temperature at a slightly less horrific level. They had also been extremely busy. Tom knew when he married Sybil that she was a nurse and her working hours were likely to be very unusual and rather unpleasant at times, and he knew that a journalist's working hours weren't exactly normal, but he never thought that the two of them would have the bad luck of not being able to make love for almost three weeks because of it. It didn't help either that Sybil had been unwell, so whenever they were together for a decent length of time when they weren't sleeping, Tom knew that suggesting sex wouldn't have put him on Sybil's good side. But Tom also knew that almost three weeks without anything would make this occasion better than almost every other one he'd had with her before. Tom reached up and softly caressed her breasts until Sybil leant forward so that they were above his head in the perfect position. Tom opened his mouth slightly and Sybil pushed one nipple into it, feeling the warmth of his inside. She groaned softly as Tom circled the hard nipple with his tongue. When he realised that Sybil may not be able to take much more without falling over the edge, he pulled back and deprived Sybil of what she wanted. She let out a breathless sigh and immediately scooted down Tom's body until she could easily reach his jeans. She undid his belt with an expert hand and quickly unzipped his jeans. Tom kicked off his jeans and his underwear, making him completely naked and releasing his hardness. Sybil noticed how much he wanted her and she gently rubbed her fingers up and down his shaft. Tom let out a low groan from the back of his throat and between breaths said, "This isn't fair, Sybil. You've got to let me get to you."

"Life's not always fair, darling," she said, making the most of Tom's erect member.

"But it's Christmas!" Tom breathed. Sybil smiled suggestively and slowly undid her own jeans. Tom sat up slightly and attempted to help Sybil with her undressing. Once Sybil had undone her own jeans, Tom helped to pull them down her legs, along with her knee-high socks and her knickers. She kicked them off to the side. She then chose to lie on her back on the bed and wait for Tom to cover her body with his. To start with he used his fingers against her most sensitive area. "Fuck, Syb, I haven't done anything yet and you're soaked through!"

"You've done plenty. Trust me, you just being you is almost enough for this to happen," Sybil said as she threw her head back onto her pillow. Tom let out a low groan as he rubbed his hardness against Sybil's entrance. "Oh God, Tom! You can't tease me like this! It's not fair! Oh, Tom," Sybil moaned.

"As you said, life's not always fair, darling," Tom retorted, knowing that Sybil wouldn't be at all happy about his quoting her own words and using them against her.

"Tom, really?" Sybil said, almost breathless. "I need… you… inside me… right… now!" she managed to get out in between breaths. He teased for a few more seconds and then entered into Sybil's warmth. He ventured further into her unbearably slowly, making both of them moan loudly.

"Oh my God, Sybil – you feel so good!"

"Fuck, Tom. Jesus Christ!" Sybil almost hollered. "Oh, Tom!" Tom slipped in and out of her with ease. He sped up until he was in a steady rhythm. Sybil arched her back and pressed her head back on the mattress as Tom pushed her over the edge. She loved the way that Tom was able to make her feel this way all the time. Even though they hadn't been this intimate for almost three weeks, Tom had still found ways to make Sybil feel as if she were the only girl on the planet and the only person whom Tom cared about. When Sybil was at her height, Tom climaxed, still surrounded by the warmth of Sybil's inner body. He almost sank on top of her, and then lay beside her, catching his breath. Sybil's breathing was also heavily laboured and she sighed as she took Tom's hand in hers. "You have no idea how much I love you Tom," she whispered shallowly.

"Well, I did think that you married me for a reason, and I like to think it was a good reason," Tom said with a grin beginning to form on his face.

"Oh yes! It was a _very_ good reason, my darling," Sybil replied. "Trust me, if you were useless in bed I would have made you wait a little longer before I agreed to marry you, if at all," she joked.

"Well, it's good to know that I have something good going for me!" Tom said, beginning to breathe at a slightly more normal rate now.

"Tom, you absolutely have so much going for you," Sybil said, burying her head in her husband's chest. "I love you more than I could ever say, Tom. You are, without a doubt, the most important person in my life and I have no idea what the hell I'd do without you in my life."

"God, Syb, I love you so much. You're beyond perfect," Tom said tenderly. Sybil turned her body to face Tom's and he turned his to face hers. She lifted her head and pressed her lips firmly against his. He opened his mouth to allow her access and brought his arms around her back. He pulled away slightly, making Sybil whimper. "Sybil, you are gorgeous. You are by far the most beautiful person I've ever met and I feel utterly privileged to be your husband."

"Merry Christmas Tom," Sybil whispered softly, her eyelids barely staying open.

"Merry Christmas my darling, darling Sybil," Tom replied, but Sybil was already falling into the silent hibernation of sleep. Tom pulled a blanket around them both and pulled Sybil nearer to him and let his own eyelids grow heavy until he lost consciousness too.

* * *

_So, I've decided to do this 12 Days of Christmas fic. Hopefully you all like it. I'll be uploading one chapter each day until January 5th (providing, of course, that I get all the chapters finished in time). Each chapter will be one day of the life of Sybil and Tom in the few weeks after Christmas, and each will have a different vague theme to do with Christmas (making gingerbread men, building a snowman etc.). I hope you all like this story, as it was rather fun to write and I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Mistletoe**

Tom looked around the room, trying desperately to catch a glimpse of where his wife had gone. They weren't in their own house, so he didn't know where Sybil was likely to be. One of Tom's colleagues hosted a Christmas party every year on Boxing Day. Tom had been invited to this party every year that the two had been working together, so he had attended all seven of them. As much as parties weren't his thing, he thought that, after seven years, it would be a little bit hard to come up with a legitimate excuse not to go. This year, however, was the first year that Sybil had agreed to come with him, and so far it hadn't gone quite as well as the two of them had planned. Three men had come up to Sybil on separate occasions doing their best to lure her away from Tom and into a separate part of the house for them to have their way with her. All three had been drunk to different degrees and one of the men was particularly violent, but Sybil stood her ground and point blank refused each request almost without a bat of an eyelid. Yes, they were drunk, but she had thought it stupid for them to come up to her because on each occasion she had been wearing her wedding ring and had been with Tom, perfectly happy without their company.

When Tom spotted Sybil across the room which seemed to be made up more of people than air, he carefully elbowed his way through the thick crowd and finally reached his wife. He gestured towards the door, not able to speak due to the loud music, that led to the large fields surrounding the house and Sybil took the hint to go outside. He stayed as close to her side as possible as they fought their way to the door. Once they were outside and no longer closed in by people on all sides, Sybil said, "Fresh air at last! You come here every year?"

"Every year for seven years so far," Tom answered. Sybil raised her eyebrows in sympathy and then took Tom's hand. Tom willingly let her lead him away from everyone else. Sybil decided to take him on a walk around some of the fields in order to get away from the chaos that was the entire contents of the large country house. There were one of two people in the fields, but the further away from the house they got, the less people walked passed them and the more comfortable they felt.

They walked slowly around the edge of a field, sometimes in silence, sometimes talking about things that weren't really worth talking about, until, "When did you first figure out that you loved me?" Tom didn't speak for a little while. He wasn't sure of this answer.

"I'm not sure. I knew I liked you from the moment I set eyes on you. And then I liked you more and more as time went by, and I'm not sure when the liking you beyond belief became love. Why do you ask?"

"Only because I know I started loving you around Christmas time three years ago."

"Only three years?" Tom asked, shocked and being overdramatic. "You've only loved me for three years? Syb, I've known you for six years; you were eighteen when I first spoke to you!" Tom remembered, not being at all serious and taking everything in good spirits with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, but it's taken me half of that time to get you out of that little bubble of solitude. You were so introverted when we first met," Sybil replied. "Plus, I was really wary of men when I was eighteen. Too many of my friends had had bad experiences, and I didn't want to risk my first relationship being a disaster from the get go. But then Gwen persuaded me that you weren't like that, and now here we are."

"And now here we are," Tom said, repeating his wife's words.

"And I love you and you love me, and as far as I know we're happy together, "Sybil said. But Tom had stopped listening halfway through her sentence, as he'd spotted something over the archway into a colourful garden. Tom walked on to stand under the arch, leaving Sybil to stare after him, wondering what he was doing. Once he was standing directly under the centre of the arch, he looked at Sybil and waved her over. She happily walked towards him, but she was still holding an expression of confusion on her face. As soon as she was standing next to Tom, he took her hand in one of his, and with the other, pointed up. Sitting on top of the archway was a cluster of mistletoe. Sybil grinned at her husband once she knew what it was. She wrapped her arms around his middle and he wrapped his around hers. Their lips locked together and they let their tongues explore the opposite realm. Sybil felt Tom's stubble against her skin and he ran his hands through her hair. Once they had broken away from each other, Sybil giggled and Tom noticed that she was shivering in her black dress. It was, by no means, a 'small' dress. It was knee-length and had full length sleeves, but the material was quite thin, which explained why Sybil was so cold. Tom loved her in that dress. She'd worn it before on various occasions, and he loved how it showed off her figure, hugging her body in just the right places to make her look more beautiful than ever. He slipped his jacket off and put it around her shoulders. It was far too big for her, almost falling off her shoulders, but she held it steady in the centre of her chest with one hand as Tom wrapped his arm around her back to comfort her and help her to feel warm.

Tom leant in for another kiss, but this one only lasted for a few seconds, as one of the men who'd tried to get off with Sybil earlier saw the couple from across the field and shouted, "Slut! Whore! Tommy's lass is a fucking player!" He was obviously showing off to his friends, but neither Tom nor Sybil were particularly pleased about it. Sybil began to walk across the field towards the rowdy group of men. Tom tried to quietly tell her that this was a bad idea, but she wasn't having any of it. She said loudly to the men she approached, "What gives you that impression? Is it the fact that I'm wearing a dress that shows very little skin in comparison to most girls here, or is it the fact that I've never had sex with a man I wasn't in a relationship with already?" All of the men were speechless. They were much taller than Sybil and more muscular, but she was much more powerful than all of them put together. "If it means anything to you, which I doubt it does, you may be interested to know that I've only ever been in one relationship, and that's the one with the man I married a year and a half ago. So, from what I've seen, I think I can safely say that you're far more likely to be a slut or a player than I will ever be! How many women have you lot shagged between you? Probably more than all the women in that house," she almost screamed, gesturing to the lively building behind them. "So can I suggest that you get your facts straight before you go falsely accusing people of such things, and can I also suggest that you don't be such fucking hypocrites?" The men said nothing. They were clearly shocked at Sybil's strength and at the fact that she was a well behaved English girl who just swore extremely loudly in front of everybody who was now watching them. Nobody was expecting her to come out with that – well, nobody except perhaps Tom. There was silence for a few seconds, but then one of the large men spoke up,

"Why did you marry our Tommy? You're far too much above him!"

"Firstly, he is not _your Tommy_, and secondly, I married my husband because I love him, thank you very much, and I am not and never will be too far above him, actually." Sybil strode back to her husband, her cheeks red with anger. She whispered apologetically to him, "Sorry, that was Granny coming out in me. But, if I'm honest, it felt utterly fantastic!" The men all finally turned and went inside and those spectators who had stopped what they were doing were now beginning to retreat back to the party.

"Do you want to go home? Maybe we could find a way to release that tension…" Tom suggested.

"Sounds like an excellent plan. I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you, Tom Branson, and I'm almost certain that it wasn't just to be able to have an excuse to shout at muscular men at a party!" Sybil grinned at her husband and took his hand. She led him back through the raucous crowd and eventually they were out of the front door and finally heading towards the car so that they could make their way back home. Once they were sat in the car, about to go, Tom pulled out a small piece of mistletoe.

"While you were making your feelings clear, I took some of it off that archway, so that we could have some at home," Tom explained.

"That was a rather good idea," Sybil said. "If there's anything that they can give us from that party, a little love is a very good thing." Tom held it above them, between the two seats and they leant into each other, resulting in a very calm kiss with a few low groans of pleasure. All the way home, Tom held Sybil's hand, apart from when he needed to change gear. They were truly in love and no matter how idiotic some of the people they met were, they knew that they always had each other to hold and to go to if they ever needed any comfort at all.

* * *

_For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoyed your day. Hopefully you like this fic - there's still ten more chapters to come! If you have a spare minute to review, please do, but I'm not going to hold it against you if you don't!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Gingerbread**

"Tom!" Sybil hollered from the kitchen. "Where's the ginger?"

"In the spice rack!" Tom shouted back through the house.

"I can't find it," Sybil said loudly. Tom wandered into the kitchen from his office and found Sybil reaching up in the cupboard, trying to find the ginger. Tom walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her middle to calm her down.

"Take a deep breath. It's only gingerbread men; it's not a matter of life and death, Syb."

"No, you're right, it's not a matter of life and death," Sybil agreed with her husband, "But I would like to be able to make something that is edible and tastes half decent, but I can't make gingerbread men without ginger. That's kind of the whole point of gingerbread."

"Yes, darling, I know. Let me have a look to see if I can find it." Tom took Sybil's place in front of the cupboards and reached up to look for the small pot of ginger. "Found it!" he exclaimed once he'd grabbed it.

"Really? Where was it?" Sybil asked, hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised at her husband.

"Right at the back of the top shelf," Tom replied, holding the spice jar out to her. "I don't blame you for not being able to find it – I know that some people aren't as tall as others!" he joked.

"Don't be horrible," Sybil ordered. "I can only cope with so many insults and I get more than enough from my eldest sister," she said whacking Tom's torso as she passed him on her way to the table. Tom followed her and said,

"Really? You don't live with her any more – does she still insult you that much?"

"You'd be surprised how much she can insult me over the phone, but I honestly feel more sorry for Edith. I think she and Mary see each other more than either of them see me, and I'd be extremely surprised if Mary didn't take out her anger on Edith," Sybil explained, but then, changed the tone of her voice, "Right, help me make these then."

Sybil walked over to the kitchen table and Tom followed her with the ginger in his hand. Ready on the table was a set of weighing scales, a rolling pin, a wooden spoon, a gingerbread cookie cutter and all the ingredients needed to make the gingerbread, other than an egg and the ginger. Tom added the jar of ginger to the collection of ingredients and took Sybil's hand in his. She looked at him, wondering what he was doing. It was clear that all Sybil wanted to do was bake gingerbread men, but Tom could see that she was getting more stressed than she should have been, so he decided to try to calm her down a little bit. "Sybil, darling, this is supposed to be fun. You can't get stressed. It's just been Christmas and you've managed to bag yourself some wonderful working hours that are actually kind of helpful and aren't at all inconvenient. You're supposed to be happy. Besides, you're so much prettier when you're smiling and cheerful."

"And you're so much more handsome when you're being helpful!" Sybil replied, pulling her hand away and turning back to the task at hand. Tom smiled to himself, reminding himself that it was Sybil who was in charge of him and not the other way around. "Alright then, 350 grams of plain flour," Sybil stated, talking to herself more than she was talking to Tom. She started to pour the white powder into the measuring bowl on the weighing scale and then transferred it into the large glass mixing bowl. "Two teaspoons of ground ginger. Can you do that for me?" Sybil asked, knowing that she didn't need to wait for an answer and that Tom would do it anyway.

"Of course I can," Tom replied, aware that getting on the wrong side of Sybil was the one place that nobody wanted to be. As Tom did this, Sybil put in one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

"Right, can you just mix all that together, and I'll get the next stuff ready?" Sybil ordered. Sybil measured out 175 grams of sugar and poured it on top of Tom's hands, which were already covered in the mix of different powders. He continued to mix everything together, making sure that the sugar was incorporated with everything else that he had already mixed, until Sybil told him to go and get an egg from the fridge. As he went to do as he was told, she added to the mixture four tablespoons of golden syrup. He came back and cracked the egg into the mixture expertly with one hand, showing off to his wife. Sybil smiled, but had a look on her face of being unimpressed. She picked up the wooden spoon and made sure everything was mixed up together properly, the egg and the golden syrup binding everything together, making the mixture slightly sticky. Tom was reading the printed recipe at this point, so he floured the table to enable Sybil to roll out the dough without the risk of it sticking to the table, despite the fact that Sybil hadn't asked him to do anything. Once Sybil had finished the mixing, she leant in front of Tom to grab for the flour, but paused when she saw the already covered wooden surface. "Oh! Thank you, love," Sybil said, clearly surprised that Tom was ahead of the game. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and Tom got out of the way as she began to roll out the dough. He let his lips curve into a loving grin as he went to grease two baking trays. He placed them on the table next to Sybil without saying a word, and stepped back.

He watched her cut the gingerbread men out of the brown, sugary dough. He leant against the wall and simply observed. He didn't care that she was a little bit bossy. He didn't care that she actually wasn't just a little bossy, but was, in fact, extremely bossy. He loved her when she was happy, when she was sad, when she was angry, stressed or overcome with hysterical laughter. She was perfect to him in every way and he didn't ever want to have to let her go. Once everything was cleared up and the gingerbread men were in the oven, Sybil relaxed a little and allowed Tom to be affectionate to her. "Sorry," she mumbled into his chest as he held her tightly in a firm hug.

"What for?"

"For being an unfriendly, unforgiving, control-freak with no second thought for your feelings," she replied, looking up into his eyes.

"You don't need to give any thought to my feelings," Tom said softly. "Or at least not much thought," he added on second thought.

"I love you," Sybil said simply. "I know I'm not always the best at showing it, but I do love you more than anyone else in the world."

"I know darling, and I love you too."

Once the biscuits were cooked and sitting on the cooling racks, Sybil and Tom collapsed on the floor, leaning against the wall. Sybil wrapped her arms around his waist and refused to let go of him, but he didn't mind. He always found that he loved her even more when she was loving, warm and affectionate. That was absolutely the best thing about their relationship. Tom stroked Sybil's knee to let her know that he really did love her and that nothing mattered other than the fact that they were together.

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_I hope you're all enjoying this story, and I hope you're all enjoying the end of the year so far._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Christmas Songs**

Tom walked in through the front door, gently tapping the clumped snow off his shoes so as not to get reprimanded for traipsing snow all around the house. He shut the front door, leant against it and removed his shoes, just to be sure that Sybil wouldn't tell him off. It was only now that he noticed that there was music blasting out of the speakers in the kitchen and that Sybil was singing along to it as loudly as she could. Surprisingly though, she was still in tune. Just as _Last Christmas_ finished, _All I Want for Christmas is You_ began and Sybil really put everything she had into it.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas,  
There is just one thing I need.  
I don't care about the presents,  
Underneath the Christmas tree.  
I just want you for my own,  
More than you could ever know.  
Make my wish come true,  
All I want for Christmas is you!"

Tom wandered through the house until he was at the kitchen door. Sybil was tidying things up and wiping down surfaces, and getting into the Christmas spirit, despite the fact that Christmas day had been and gone. Sybil was a self-confessed Christmas fanatic, so she held on to the Christmas spirit for as long as possible. Tom leant against the doorframe and just watched her. He knew then that he had fallen in love with her because she was absolutely perfect. She was opinionated and strong minded. But she was still human; she cried when things got to her, she got angry when she was faced with narrow-minded people who didn't understand the value of life and she laughed when she found something funny. He also loved her figure. He loved the fact that she had hips and that she went in at her small waist and then out again to curve around her full breasts. He loved that she wasn't one of those girls who thought that they could only be worth anything if they were size zero, tall, blonde and wore nothing but designer clothes. Whenever he looked at her face he fell in love all over again with her blue eyes, her messy hair, her red lips and her blushing cheeks. He loved her so much and now he was watching her dance around the kitchen as she sorted out the room.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas,  
There is just one thing I need.  
And I don't care about the presents,  
Underneath the Christmas tree.  
I don't need to hang my stocking,  
There upon the fireplace.  
Santa Claus won't make me happy,  
With a toy on Christmas day."

Tom stayed where he was, but joined in with Sybil's singing.

"I just want you for my own,  
More than you could ever know."

Sybil jumped and turned around on the spot. As soon as she saw him she smiled and clutched a hand to her heart, letting herself breathe again. Tom could tell that he'd frightened her, but in keeping with the Christmas spirit, she simply walked over to him and continued singing with him.

"Make my wish come true,  
All I want for Christmas is you.  
You, baby!"

Sybil wrapped her arms around Tom's neck and danced with him, spinning them around together in the middle of the room as they continued to sing to each other.

"Oh, I won't ask for much this Christmas,  
I won't even wish for snow.  
And I'm just gonna keep on waiting,  
Underneath the mistletoe.  
I won't make a list and send it,  
To the North Pole for Saint Nick.  
I won't even stay awake,  
To hear those magic reindeer click.  
'Cause I just want you here tonight,  
Holding onto me so tight.  
What more can I do?  
Baby, all I want for Christmas is you.  
You, baby!"

Tom snuck a kiss from Sybil quickly before she begun to sing again.

"Oh, all the lights are shining,  
So brightly everywhere.  
And the sound of children's laughter,  
Fills the air.  
And everyone is singing,  
I hear those sleigh bells ringing.  
Santa won't you bring me the one I really need?  
Won't you please bring my baby to me?"

Tom shifted his grip to Sybil's rump and lifted her off her feet. She tightened her grip around his neck and swung her legs up around his waist, locking her ankles together behind his back. Tom spun around on the spot and Sybil flung her head back in joy as the song continued.

"Oh, I don't want a lot for Christmas,  
This is all I'm asking for.  
I just want to see my baby,  
Standing right outside my door.  
Oh, I just want you for my own,  
More than you could ever know.  
Make my wish come true,  
Baby, all I want for Christmas is you, baby!"

As the remaining lyrics of the song faded out, Tom stopped turning and Sybil gently dipped her head to press her lips against his. Tom slowly plodded over, still joined with Sybil and carefully slid her onto the freshly cleaned kitchen side, moving his hand to wrap around her waist. He slowly pulled his head away from hers and caught her gaze. "I love you so much, Sybil."

"I love you too, my darling." She placed another small kiss on his lips before pulling away and frowning a little. "But, um, how long were you standing at the door before you finally frightened the life out of me?"

"Only since the beginning of the song," Tom replied with a cheeky smirk.

"And why didn't you say anything?" Sybil asked softly, but firmly, running her hands through his long hair.

"Because I was admiring you. I was letting myself take in every morsel of your gorgeous, beautiful, absolutely stunning body. Is that not allowed?" Tom asked in reply.

"I might let it slip – if you're extremely lucky, that is!" Sybil laughed.

"I wonder if there's any way I could increase my luck," Tom pondered aloud.

"There might be one way," Sybil said hoarsely. She locked her lips with his once more and the two of them wove together their tongues in an intricate pattern that they had practiced for years. Tom gently placed his hands on each side of Sybil's waist and Sybil slid her hands over his shoulders and settled them on his strong and well-built arms. She let out a low groan when Tom tugged a little too harshly at her tongue. Sybil kept her legs tight around Tom's waist and realised Tom's arousal.

Three quarters of an hour later with multiple layers of clothing scattered on the floor, their two naked bodies lay together in a tangle of arms and legs and heavy breathing. Tom's arm was wrapped around Sybil's shoulders, pulling her into him, showing his affection for her after the fast-paced half an hour they had just endured. "You're absolutely breath-taking, love," Tom said softly.

"Well, you're not too bad yourself, I must say!" Sybil said in reply. Tom moved to get up. "No! Don't move!" Sybil said loudly, tightening her grip around his torso and tangling her legs in his even further.

"I was only going to get a blanket!" Tom replied.

"Don't," Sybil ordered. "You're keeping me warm enough as it is."

"Alright then," Tom said, turning towards her again. Within the next ten minutes, both slightly sweaty bodies were fast asleep, limbs joined, Sybil's head on Tom's chest, not using her own pillow at all.

* * *

_Hello again. I hope you're still enjoying the story. It doesn't have a plan really, so it could go anywhere. Any reviews are welcomed with open arms. Thank you for reading it so far._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Christmas Memories**

Sybil was curled up on the sofa watching the Christmas tree lights reflecting off the tinsel, causing magical patterns of translucent colour to be made on the walls. Tom was next to her, holding her tight and watching her. She was so peaceful and she was so perfect. Tom's arms were around her waist, and Sybil placed a hand on top of his. "When I was little, the best thing about December was decorating the tree," Sybil said.

"I always loved decorating the tree, but with a family as big as mine with so many children with different views on things, the tree always looked completely overdressed and like a compilation of trees from different places. Most of the decorations we had didn't match anything and shouldn't have been in the same house at the same time," Tom laughed. "And there came a point where there were so many people that dad decided to get an artificial tree instead of a real one. It was cheaper in the long run and we didn't have to worry about all the younger ones stepping or crawling on pine needles. But it was a shame not to have the smell of the tree."

"We've always been such a traditional family. When we were little, before the three of us were old enough to know what we were doing, we were always told not to get too close to the Christmas tree because we'd probably break a glass bauble and tread on the shards or something ridiculous like that. But I always broke the rules. I always went and sat next to the Christmas tree and read a book or something. I was caught so often by granny, but every time I was caught, I just grinned at her and told her that I wanted to be able to smell the pine and get into the Christmas feeling, which wasn't untrue."

"We were always told not to throw snowballs at the house in case we broke a window. The house was draughty enough already, but that didn't stop us having snowball fights. We once had a massive snowball fight between all of us. It was adults versus children and we won of course. My parents didn't know what was coming their way. We all ganged up on them, me and all of my siblings and most of my cousins. It was great fun, but my uncle almost smashed a window and we'll still not let him forget it!"

"That's what I want for our children. Memories that will never leave them and times that they'll never forget. And I want them to be able to be children for as long as possible because I know I didn't get to be a child. Not properly. Certainly not for as long as I wanted to be a child for."

"I agree completely. I want them to be able to shoot a water gun at their uncle Matthew and not have him tell them off, but turn on the hose and squirt cold water at them instead. I want them to be able to sit on me mam's lap and cry onto her shoulder, having complete confidence that she won't tell us if they don't want her to."

"I want them to be able to come to us though," Sybil said.

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "My parents were great to me. They were definitely my best friends. I knew that I could go to them for all sorts of things. If I was ill or upset or needed advice about girls or anything, I knew that my parents were always there for me."

"I never really had that. I mean, I know I could go to them if I wanted or needed anything, but I wish I had a better relationship with them. I always feel that they've been a little cold towards me. I know they loved me and I know that they spent a lot of their time thinking about Mary's love life and about Edith's lack of it, but I wish they'd considered me a little bit more. Maybe that's selfish though," she said, leaning into Tom's chest, taking in his scent and the feeling of his touch.

"That's not selfish at all. It's partly my fault – when you started going out with me, your parents pushed us aside because they never really wanted me to be going out with their youngest daughter and planting ideas in her head. At least, you're father certainly never did," he said with a smile, brushing over her cheekbones with the back of his finger. They continued to watch the Christmas tree. The lights flickered on and off. The tree really was rather a collection of mismatched decorations. Sybil had put on the tree some of her baubles from when she was little and Tom had done the same, including some that they had only had since they had been together.

"We used to go and get a new bauble for each of us every year. Mama would take us and Mary, Edith and I would get to choose one bauble each to put on the tree each year. Even though each different bauble was completely different, they always looked good together once they were actually on the tree. Christmas was one of the only times of the year when the three of us would actually cooperate and smile at each other. Actually, when we were little, we played together all the time and came up with all sorts of new games, but then after a while we all went our separate ways. Mary got interested in boys and spent all of her time dragging the poor things along when she knew that she would never go any further with them. I got into politics and focused on my career and then I met you. And Edith tried to sort things out, tried desperately to get a job and to find a man that wouldn't cause her a problem, and she's still doing that as far as I know. It's a shame that we split apart really. With Mary and Edith constantly squabbling, though, I was glad to be out of there and living with you instead."

"I love you Sybil."

"I love you too, Tom. Hey look, it's snowing!" Sybil pointed out as she saw the white flakes falling down on the other side of the window.

"It was snowing yesterday as well," Tom said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it didn't snow much, but there was enough of it on the ground for it to clump together on my shoes when I was walking home from work."

"Oh," Sybil said. "I didn't even notice it. It must have melted pretty quickly then."  
"I think it did, but as you well know, I wasn't really paying attention to the weather yesterday evening!" Tom smirked in a husky voice. He loosed his grip around her waist slightly, letting her move to face him. She secured her lips on his, gently tracing his lips with her tongue. Tom gave her the consent she wanted and allowed her to push her tongue into his mouth, poking his own tongue into her mouth. Sybil gently pulled away, her hands still against his chest, his still on her waist. "You're beautiful, Sybil."

"Thank you," she said quietly, looking into her lap. Tom saw her cheeks blush ever so slightly.

"Don't tell me you're still embarrassed when I tell you how stunning you are!" he teased. "It's a compliment, take it with pride!"

"I know I should, but you know that's not how my head works."

"Yes, and I've been trying to alter the way your mind works ever since that first date."

"And you've done a better job than everybody else ever did."

"I'm hoping that's not the only thing that I'm better than anyone else at!" he said with a cheeky tone to his low voice.

"I wouldn't know. You know you're the only person I've ever gone that far with."

"Yeah, I know. And it means that I've got nothing to live up to!" he smirked.

"Hey!" Sybil shouted, offended. "I've got high standards. You just happened to exceed my expectations."

"I know I do. Rather a lot, as far as I can tell."

"Maybe I've given you the wrong impression, then," Sybil teased, making Tom pretend to pout, but before he could protest to her words, she was on top of him and locked onto his lips. "Perhaps," she said once she'd pulled away, "you need to prove yourself and let me judge your ability."

"Ooh, this could be interesting," Tom said, pulling her down into another kiss. Just at that moment the phone rang. Sybil sighed as she splayed out her hands on Tom's chest and lifted her head.

"Well, it _could_ be interesting if we ever get around to it," she said as she scrambled off the sofa and plodded over to the phone. "Hello? Yeah, of course. Two seconds," she said into the phone. She walked over to Tom and passed the phone to her husband. "It's your mother." Tom groaned and sat up slightly as he took the phone.

"Hello? Hi mam. No, why? She's fine. No, really, I promise. Why would she be? No, no, mam. Mam," Tom said, trying desperately to get his mother to listen to him. "What do you actually want? Yes, I know. Yes, she knows as well. Yes! I have told her, we do talk to each other! I know. No, not really. No, I get that. Yes, but we're sort of busy. Well…" At this Sybil grinned at her husband, realising that her mother-in-law had obviously just asked what exactly they had been doing that made them so busy. "No, you can't, I'm married. Yes it does. No, mam, it gives me the perfect right to enjoy my time with my wife. No. Yes, alright. Okay then. I'll see you on Wednesday. Okay. Love to everyone. Okay. Bye." He hung up the phone and gave a sigh of relief that he'd finished talking to his mother. Sybil smiled sympathetically at him.

"Are you alright?" Tom just raised his eyebrows and smiled lovingly. "She doesn't know how not to pry does she?"

"Absolutely not, but I wish she would, for your sake if not for mine."

"I'm sure I can cope with your mother. If I can deal with my own family, then I can deal with yours." When Tom gave her a look that said, _don't be so sure of yourself_, she said, "Tom, it's fine. She's had children. She knows what has to happen to get them." She gave Tom a cheeky grin and looked at him with a seductive shine in her eyes. She straddled Tom's torso, slotting one leg between his side and the back of the sofa. Before she leant forward to kiss Tom, she crossed her arms in front of her, grabbing the hem of her top to pull it over her head. She tossed it to the floor and then leant down to kiss Tom. She could feel that he was smiling against her lips. She groaned quietly when Tom smoothed his fingertips up her back and sides, starting from the top of her jeans, ending when he reached her bra. Sybil's hands were pressed gently on Tom's chest, knowing that she couldn't hurt him with her weight. She pulled away from Tom and allowed him to sit up and remove his own shirt. As soon as she could, she put her arms around Tom's neck, feeling his shoulder muscles with her fingers.

A few minutes later, both Sybil and Tom were completely naked and were wasting no time in getting on with it. They were both on the floor now. Earlier in the week, they had decided that the floor was not the best place to have sex, but neither of them were prepared to stop now just to be comfortable. They wanted each other and each of them could easily tell just how much they were needed by the other person. Sybil was underneath Tom and flung her head back as Tom entered her slowly. "Tom, go on," she encouraged loudly. "Faster, please. Don't go so slow, Tom!" As Tom sped up and hit a steady rhythm that he knew Sybil loved and was used to, he could feel Sybil clamping down on him, reaching her climax. Tom was close to his own climax as well. He and Sybil let out moans simultaneously and they both fell over the edge. Tom pulled out of her warmth after his climax and collapsed next to her. After he'd caught his breath a little he said, "So, have I proven myself worthy?" Sybil laughed.

"I'm absolutely certain that I won't be divorcing you any time soon, put it that way!" she said.

"I'm glad to hear it!" Tom said, catching his breath. Once they had both recovered enough to breathe a little more normally, they decided that they'd go to bed. It was late, and both of them had had a tough day at work, so they were thankful for the rest.

As they were curled up together in bed, Sybil said, "I love you Tom. I'm so glad I've got you."

"I feel the same. You're brilliant, darling." Sybil then turned her body into her husband's and she closed her eyes to fall asleep, knowing that he'd keep her warm and that he wouldn't refuse to let her rest against his body. Tom sighed lovingly and stamped a kiss on the top of her head. He was absolutely head over heels in love with her and he felt lucky to be the man to have married her.

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_This chapter was a bit hurried. I had to write it when I was tired and didn't have much time, but hopefully it's not too terrible and you guys are still interested. Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Snow**

"Tom," Sybil called from across their garden to get his attention. He turned around to face his wife, but as soon as he'd done so he was hit in the shoulder by a snowball. Sybil grinned at him mischievously, but was soon trying to run away from him to stop him from attacking her in the same way. He ran towards her with a snowball and hit her hip as she ran the other way as fast as she could. She stopped once she was hit so that she could catch her breath, but then screamed lightly when Tom came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. He fell over, still holding her, causing her to land on top of him. She was thankful to have him as a barrier between her and the thick layer of snow. She didn't really fancy being frozen cold on the floor. She scrambled off Tom and helped him up, not letting him stay on the floor for any longer than was necessary. "Are you alright?" Sybil asked her husband.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that, but I felt the urge to surprise you."

"With an attack? Yeah, thanks for that!" Sybil teased.

"Come on, we should make a snowman while there's still enough snow," Tom said, beginning to walk away to find a good spot in their garden to build one. Sybil ran up silently behind him and jumped onto his back, making him give her a piggyback.

"Okay then. Where do you want to build it?"

"Umm… There," Tom said pointing across the garden.

"Okay then." Tom trudged over to that point and allowed Sybil to slide down his body until her feet hit the ground. They each started to gather together snow that they could put together to form the beginnings of a snowman. They were starting to get somewhere now. They had the lowest and largest sphere of their snowman, and it looked better than either one of them had anticipated. It was surprisingly clean with only a few twigs sticking out here and there and only a little bit of frozen mud and grass. "Right, here's a plan," Sybil said, turning to Tom. He listened to her idea willingly. "You do the middle and I'll do his head."

"Why do I get the larger one?" Tom asked.

"Because you're quicker at it than I am," Sybil said as she stepped away to find some more clean snow to create the head.

"Make it a race, then," Tom said. A frantic ten minutes later, Tom was finished with his ball, which was now piled on the already made sphere, but Sybil wasn't finished with hers. Tom ran inside, desperately wanting to beat Sybil by as much as physically possible. He went to get a bag of coal and a carrot from the fridge. He came sprinting out of the house, determined to get the coal buttons on before Sybil had managed to finish the head, but by the time he was back outside, she had placed the ball of snow on the growing tower. He handed the carrot to Sybil for her to put in the centre of the top snowball. Together, he and Sybil put the coal on the compacted snow to make eyes, a mouth and buttons. Once they were done they stood back together, Tom with his arm around her waist and her leaning into his body. "Not bad," Tom said, admiring their handiwork. "But you were ridiculously slow."

"I told you that you were faster than me!" Sybil exclaimed, willing to stand back and let Tom win. "But, I've got to tell you, I am _really_ cold, and I would really like to go and sit in front of the fire." Tom then took her hand and together they wandered inside and sat in front of the fire. She was happy to have made a snowman with Tom. It was relaxed and a little competitive, but it was a brilliant way to spend the day together in the snow without worrying about anything else, ending in a wonderful cuddle in front of the fire.

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_I know this is a really short chapter, but I didn't know what I could write for it and I wanted to be able to get something up, even if it was short and terrible like this. Hopefully the second half of this fic will be better than what I've done so far, but I promise absolutely nothing._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Hot Chocolate and Gingerbread Men**

Tom walked into the room with a plate of the remaining gingerbread men from a few days ago in one hand and two mugs of hot chocolate in the other. He sat down next to Sybil, placing the plate and mugs on the floor and stated, "It smells of nail polish."

"Oh, I wonder why!" Sybil laughed, as she finished painting the last of her fingernails. They were just red – nothing fancy, but she loved painting her nails. It gave her a sense of satisfaction when they turned out well. And, providing that she didn't ruin them now, they looked really rather good and she was extremely pleased with them, especially as they reminded her of Christmas day just a week before. "You do realise that you're going to have to feed me those because I can't touch anything, don't you?" she said to Tom.

"That's fine," Tom said, not minding at all that he would have to feed Sybil. Sybil put all the nail polish things to one side and pushed herself into Tom's body, almost making him spill his hot chocolate. "Hey," he said loudly. Sybil didn't expect him to shout, so she immediately sat up, still being wary of where she put her fingers. "We aren't going to have a repercussion of the incident on Christmas day!"

"Well, I think that ended rather well actually!" Sybil said cheekily as Tom put his mug down on the floor. Once Sybil was sure that she wasn't going to risk knocking anything over, she pushed herself back towards Tom and leant against him, watching the fire. "And besides, I'm not going to ruin my nail polish, so you'll have to go without. But anyway, since Christmas we've had more than one heated night."

"I know," Tom said, wrapping one arm around Sybil's shoulders and squeezing her arm. "It's been marvellous if you ask me." They both smiled into the fire, knowing that the other was also smiling, even though they couldn't see one another. Sybil leant over to carefully pick up her mug, being certain that none of her fingernails touched anything else. She took a cautious sip, knowing that it was probably too hot to drink, but she was surprised to find that Tom had put the right amount of milk in it to make it cool quicker than usual.

"You added milk," Sybil said with admiration in her voice.

"I know I did. After you reprimanded me last time I made hot chocolate for not putting anywhere near enough in, I decided that I could easily avoid getting whacked by adding a little extra."

"Thank you," Sybil said, dropping her head further onto his chest for comfort. "I love you Tom."

"I love you too, Syb."

"But, you know what would make me love you even more?"

"A gingerbread man?" Tom guessed.

"Bingo!" Sybil laughed. She opened her mouth and let Tom place the biscuit in her mouth. He held onto it as she bit it and then pulled it away from her mouth slightly.

The two of them had been together long enough for them to know each other more than either of them knew was possible to know another person. Tom had always thought that this was partly because they hadn't got to know each other in the normal way. Gwen was one of their mutual friends and had introduced them to each other, but she'd mentioned each of them to the other enough times that they felt that they knew each other rather a lot already, so there was never an awkward stage where they were getting to know whether they were dog people or cat people, their favourite colour, their favourite number, and the list of schools they'd been to, best friends they'd had, and number of different relationships they'd been in. Since getting together they had actually found out all of these things about each other, but that information had been discovered much later in their relationship when things were going steadily and once they knew that they were solidly together and that neither of them were going to go anywhere.

"What time are your parents coming tomorrow?" Sybil asked once she'd finished her mouthful. Then Tom gave her another bite as he answered.

"It's not just my parents. It's some of my siblings too and some of their children."

"And you're certain we're going to have enough room?" Sybil enquired, genuinely concerned that there wasn't going to be enough space for everybody to sit down.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that everybody will have somewhere to sit, but we might have to make some of the kids sit on the floor." He gave her another bit of her gingerbread man and then said, "And they're all really looking forward to seeing you again. A lot of them haven't seen you since the wedding – not properly anyway."

"Oh God, that means I'm going to have to talk to people," Sybil said, joking at Tom.

"Yes you are! No sneaking off to read a book half way through the day. I know what you're like, but I also know what my family are like. They'll never forgive me if they don't get to talk to you."

"They'll never forgive _you_? Surely I'm the one that shouldn't be forgiven?" Sybil wondered aloud.

"Yes, but they like you too much and they're not stupid enough to risk getting on the wrong side of you, so they'll blame me for as much as they can."

"Sensible family, I see!" Sybil laughed, finishing off her gingerbread man after drinking some more hot chocolate. "So, who exactly is coming?"

"Well, there's me mam and da. Then there's Catherine and her two monsters," Tom started, but Sybil interrupted him.

"How old are those two now?"

"Rachel's eight and Jack's seven."

"No Jonathan?" Sybil was referring to Tom's brother-in-law and Catherine's husband.

"No, he's abroad apparently. Anyway, then there's Sophie and Rob, Peter and Lou and they're bringing Jennifer with them. Michael's also coming, but Elizabeth is working," Tom continued.

"But it's New Year! Elizabeth can't be working on New Year's day!" Sybil exclaimed.

"She's a surgeon. Besides, you've worked on New Year's day before. That's what comes of being a professional medic."

"Poor thing. We must make sure we tell Michael to send her our best wishes then," Sybil said.

"We will," Tom stated. "Oh, and I think Holly's coming as well."

"That's a lot!" Sybil said, raising her eyebrow and warming herself up with more hot chocolate. "Eleven people. Wait, have I counted that right?"

"Umm, there's mam, da, Cathy, Rachel, Jack, Sophie, Rob, Peter, Lou, Jennifer, Michael and Holly." As Tom was saying that Sybil was counting on her fingers.

"Oh, that's twelve, and then there's also you and me. We should be able to do it, but it's a bit of a squeeze. If I'm honest, though, I'm actually quite looking forward to being able to see them all again. We certainly don't see enough of your family."

"Don't tell mam that or she'll be round here every weekend!" Tom said.

"Your mother and I have a better relationship than you realise. Last time we went to your parents' house, while you and Catherine were with the children in the garden, she and I had a remarkable conversation. There's a good deal of things that I know about you that I've learnt from your mother and that you've never mentioned. I get on with her almost better than I get on with you!"

"She likes you, that's why. She thinks you've made me a better person and a better son to her."

"I probably have. I don't know what you were like as a person before I met you, but I know that you've got better as the years have gone by. Definitely. You're mother's right. I've made you a better person." Tom moved out of the way, making Sybil fall to the floor out of joking spite. Sybil reached out to grab him, but he shimmied out of the way and then said,

"I thought you didn't want to ruin your nails."

"I don't, but they've dried now, so it's fine."

Tom stood up and walked closer to her, taking her hand to lift her to her feet. He smiled at his wife and slid his hands to her back. She leant into his hands as he brought her body closer to his. She gently closed her eyes and Tom changed their bond from a hug to a kiss. Sybil accepted that kiss almost more willingly than any other kiss he'd given her before. She knew the kiss was sincere, heart-felt and tender. "I love you so much, Tom," Sybil said once their lips were no longer joined together.

"I love you too, Syb. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you the job of keeping my mother in order tomorrow," Tom replied.

"That's fine. That's an easy job. But you've got to keep your brothers under control."

"All of them?" Tom said, with an over the top shocked voice. Sybil kissed Tom softly once more and then whispered to him,

"Yes. Because it's your family and I've got my own family to deal with. I suppose I might be able to get your sisters to help organize your family."

"You make it sound like the men of my family are useless," Tom protested quietly. Sybil simply raised her eyebrows.

"I'm not going to say that they're completely useless, but they're certainly more useful if they're told what to do by us. Come on Tom, you've got to face it, the women in your family are extremely strong minded!"

"Yeah, I know. Mam's reminded me about that far too many times before. So have you for that matter."

"I love you," they said simultaneously just before drawing each other into another firm, but loving kiss.

* * *

_Thank you all for reading this fic so far. Tomorrow will be an interesting day for the Branson household and hopefully everything will be smooth sailing (but I haven't actually written it yet, so I don't know if it will be). Please review if you have time because my life essentially revolves around whether I get fanfiction views or not._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: New Year's Day**

No, Tom. That doesn't go there!" Dawn stated strongly, telling her son that the knife he had been holding couldn't be placed down where he had placed it.

"How would you know?" Tom said under his breath, resenting the fact that his mother was telling him where things went in his own home.

"Tom, don't be rude to your mother," Sybil reprimanded her husband. "I won't have bickering in my house!" Sybil's voice was harsher than usual, but when Tom looked at her, she looked lovingly back into his eyes and they wrapped their arms around each other. Tom pulled Sybil closer to him and softly placed his lips on hers. Once Tom's mother had turned around, she said loudly,

"And I won't have any canoodling in my kitchen!" Sybil and Tom reluctantly broke apart, but smiled at each other, knowing that Tom's mother was not one to be crossed. Sybil twirled so that her back was to Tom's front and so that they were now both facing Dawn. Tom's arms were still wrapped around Sybil's middle, crossing over her stomach and Sybil's arms were folded on top of his.

"It's technically not your kitchen, mam," Tom said, knowing that with Sybil between them, his mother wasn't going to give him a clout. Sybil looked at the floor, anticipating how her mother-in-law was going to react.

"Don't worry, Sybil, darling; I'm not going to do anything that might injure you," Dawn said tenderly. Sybil looked at her with an admiring smile. "My son, however, may be caught off guard later today."

"I can deal with that," Sybil said. "It wouldn't be the only time he was caught off guard!" There was a cheeky tone to Sybil's voice as she said the second part of her sentence more to herself than to Dawn.

"And don't I know it!" Dawn exclaimed. "As far as I'm aware, the two of you were rather busy when I called a few days ago." She wasn't embarrassed at all, but rather enjoyed embarrassing her son. She simply kept going about the kitchen, continuing preparing for the meal. Sybil, however, could feel her cheeks blushing bright scarlet and he could feel Tom's arms tighten around her as he squirmed in his skin. "Oh, go on you two. You're not being any help. Take these plates to the table and tell everyone that lunch will be ready any minute now." Sybil stepped forward and took the plates from Tom's mother, thankful to be getting out of the awkward situation.

Tom followed her out of the room. She turned into the dining room and Tom went to gather everybody together. Sybil could hear a muffled sound of, "Food's ready, guys." Sybil also heard the back door open and heard Tom shout, "If you don't come inside you lot will go hungry!" In the dining room, everybody came in dribs and drabs. The children hurried in and both demanded to sit next to 'Auntie Sybil'. Everyone else sat down according to whichever seats were closest and whichever seats were free. Once Dawn had managed to rope in her husband, Catherine, Sophie and Michael to help, all of the food eventually ended up on the table and everybody began serving themselves, Sybil serving both Rachel and Jack. Their mother, Catherine had tried to serve them, but they refused to tell her what they wanted and instead demanded that Sybil should be the one to put the food on their plates.

"So, remind me how you two met," Rob asked, Tom's brother-in-law.

"My best friend knew Tom," Sybil explained, "And after a bit of convincing, she managed to get me to meet him."

"How long did it take you to convince Sybil to go out with a face like yours, then?" Peter, one of Tom's younger brother's, asked.

"About three years actually," Tom admitted.

"Even I can do better than that Uncle Tom!" Jack said proudly. Every adult around the table laughed and Jack looked very pleased with himself. "Why didn't you just ask her if she loved you?" he asked, genuinely concerned that his uncle may be unable to successfully get a girlfriend. Tom was speechless, but Sybil managed to answer Jack's question.

"Because he was scared of me when he first met me. He didn't think that I'd say yes if he asked me if I loved him."

"All men are scared of women," Rachel said, very knowingly.

"They certainly are in this family," Sybil replied with a smile aimed at her husband. Then Michael, Tom's youngest brother, said rather indignantly,

"No they're not!" Every female sitting around that table glared at him for being so wrong. He immediately backed down and gave in, deciding that, yes; the women in his family were scarier than any other woman he'd seen before. After a short discussion, the family decided that Dawn was the most formidable person either of them had ever met and that part of the reason Tom had decided that Sybil was the one for him was because she, too, was a woman whom one didn't want to get on the wrong side of.

"Auntie Sybil?" Rachel said, half sheepishly.

"Yes, darling," Sybil said in a soft voice, trying to let Rachel know that Sybil wouldn't get cross with her, no matter what she wanted.

"Can I try some of your wine?"

"Well, you'll have to ask your mother if you're allowed some wine first," Sybil replied, her lips forming into a smile. Although she didn't have any children of her own, she knew perfectly well that, at eight years old, it should be checked with her mother before allowing her to have some wine. Rachel looked at her mother hopefully and Catherine said,

"You can have a very little bit if Sybil doesn't mind." The eight year old looked back at Sybil and she smiled and nodded, handing the half-full glass of wine to the wide-eyed young girl. "A little bit, Rachel," her mother reminded gently. Once she had taken a sip, she concentrated carefully on the taste of the wine. Although Tom's parents had given them a bottle of wine when they arrived at their house, they had decided to drink a bottle of wine that they'd had hanging around for a while. After a few moments of keeping her face contorted in an extremely focused expression, Rachel asked rather boisterously and confidently,

"Can I have a glass to myself?" All adults laughed at her readiness to be so outspoken, but they all knew that such a thing ran in the family.

"No, sweetie," Tom said, kindly, but still firmly. "You might be able to have a little bit more later on, though," he explained to the eight year old.

"_Only_ if you're good," Catherine said strongly. For the rest of the meal, Rachel and Jack continued to be well behaved and simply listened to the conversations that the adults were partaking in. Jennifer was almost silent throughout the entire meal, willing to sit calmly, taking in her surroundings.

Once the meal was finished, the children were allowed to do what they wanted, so the two siblings took their cousin with them and they explored a little further outside. Every adult wanted to be of use, so as not to leave Sybil and Tom with a shedload of work to do, so they all tried to get the plates, glasses and cutlery gathered together to make light work of it, but almost all of them were shooed out of the way by Tom's mother. "Go on, girls, go and have a gossip – help me would you, boys, but stay out of the way when I tell you to," Dawn instructed. "No, no, you're not a girl, Steven," she said to her husband. "You've got to help as well – you can't let your three sons and one of your two son-in-laws help out and then skive yourself!" He sighed under his breath, but Dawn chose to ignore his inward remark. The women then took the time they had and willingly carried their partly-full wine glasses through to the living room. They all collapsed on the various different seats and began gossiping.

"So, no children yet?" Holly asked.

"Not as yet, no. But I know that I want children."

"Not even any on the way?" she asked.

"Afraid not," Sybil said, knowing that, with any luck, there'd be one on the way soon.

"No need to interrogate her as if she were a criminal!" Sophie laughed. "With this family, it must be really hard to settle in. Imagine coming into this family for the first time in your twenties."

"I can vouch for that!" Lou said. "Marrying into this family isn't the easiest thing in the world to do."

"No, but it certainly isn't the hardest thing either," Sybil said. "All of you are so welcoming and lovely. Dawn and Steven obviously raised you all to be hospitable."

"Mam did," the three sisters said together and then the five women threw their heads back in giggles.

"Maybe we've all had a little too much wine," Sybil stated, but took another sip of hers anyway. "I hope you lot aren't driving," she said.

"Rob's driving me home with Catherine and the kids," Sophie said, talking of her husband. Then Lou said,

"Peter's driving home."

"And I'm staying at Michael's house tonight anyway. I'm going on to meet another friend further south tomorrow."

"I'm glad. I wouldn't want any of you to go driving like a lunatic and kill yourselves," Sybil said rather seriously.

"Who's getting killed?" Tom asked as he walked into the room, followed by everybody else who had helped clear up, with Dawn bringing up the rear. He collapsed next to Sybil on the sofa and wrapped an arm around her. She leant into him and swung her legs to the side, resting them half underneath her on the sofa.

"Nobody's getting killed," Sybil said to her husband, resting one hand on his thigh, the other keeping her wine from spilling everywhere. "I was just making sure that none of this lot were going to get caught drink-driving."

"Oh, alright then," Tom replied. He pressed a kiss onto Sybil's forehead and she shimmied even closer to him.

"Look at them!" Peter exclaimed. "They're hideously in love. How can they not have a baby already?" Sybil looked shyly into her lap and Tom tightened his grip on her as he said,

"I remember when you and Lou were disgustedly loved-up!"

"Yeah, but that didn't last for three years without having a baby by the end of it."

"We were just discussing it, actually," Sybil said. "When you were all no doubt getting shouted out by Dawn, and rightly so, we were discussing babies – or, rather, the lack of them."

"Well, if I'm perfectly honest, I'm surprised that you haven't managed to knock her up yet!" Dawn said quite coarsely. She wasn't one for being proper, but rather for saying what needed to be said.

"Mam!" Tom said, shocked.

"Well, I've managed to ring you in the middle of some interesting business more than once and you know it."

Most of the rest of the evening was spent talking about babies and the different lives that they all lead and how none of them had ever thought that Tom would fall for a posh lass, until it got to about nine o'clock and everybody agreed that the children were going to fall asleep extremely soon if they weren't taken home. As soon as everybody had left the house and Tom and Sybil had waved goodbye to the last car, Sybil turned to Tom and said,

"I am _so_ glad that's over!"

"Another glass of wine?"

"No, I think I'd rather just collapse in a heap in bed." Sybil managed, just about, to make it up the stairs and into her pyjamas and Tom soon followed. Although Sybil usually fell asleep in Tom's arms, she didn't have the energy to wait for him to be ready, so she fell asleep on her own pillow with her knees drawn up against her chest. Tom slid his legs behind hers and flopped one arm over her middle, and then fell asleep almost as instantly as she had done once his head hit the pillow.

* * *

_I haven't checked through this, so I'm sorry for the mistakes, but I'm very short of time and this is extremely rushed. This was supposed to be a much longer and more complex chapter, but some things just don't work out, so sorry for that._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A Walk in the Rain**

Sybil's teeth were chattering as she and Tom were walking around the fields in the rain. Although both of them were wrapped in layers of fabric, the cold wind still managed to get through to Sybil's core. Tom held an umbrella between the two of them and Sybil's arm was slotted in the fold of his, as they couldn't hold hands. "Do you want my coat?" Tom asked, now wanting his wife to catch a cold.

"No, I'll be fine," Sybil mumbled, fighting past her jaw's inability to stay still.

"No, you'll get pneumonia if you're not careful. Here, hold this," Tom said firmly, handing Sybil the umbrella handle. Sybil took the handle from Tom reluctantly, protesting quietly, but was, in fact, extremely thankful to have the extra layer to keep her warm. As she put her arms through in the sleeves, she said,

"If you end up getting pneumonia or a cold from this, then it's your fault!"

"We had this discussion on Christmas day, love. I can deal with the cold better than you give me credit for," Tom replied.

"I wish I could," Sybil said. "It would be so convenient to be able to go out in, well, that," she remarked, gesturing at Tom's attire. He was wearing an old pair of jeans with walking boots and a rather thin t-shirt, covered in a jumper. "You've got two layers on above your waist and I've got a vest, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a thick jumper, my coat and also your coat and I'm still absolutely frozen."

"Well, we have been out for a while – do you want to head back home?"

"If you don't mind, I'd rather like to get home and have a hot bath," Sybil said, tightening her grip around Tom's arm. The two of them turned around and started walking back.

"I'm glad you survived yesterday," Tom said sympathetically.

"I only just survived. I get the impression that your family wants us to have children almost more than we want them."

"Yeah, sorry about that. They can be a little bit pushy and now that they feel comfortable around you, they want to know as much as possible about our relationship. I don't think that they've really understood that you'd rather be alone with a pile of books than surrounded by people," Tom explained.

"Maybe it's a good thing then. Maybe it will make me value the company of others more," Sybil said, contemplating the possibilities that could come of spending the day with the rest of the Bransons.

"You shouldn't change. I fell in love with you and married you because of who you are and not because of whom you might become. I love the you who screams at me to go away when you've got to the best point in the book and the you who loves cuddles and the you who cheers me up in the best ways possible. I love you for who you are, Sybil and I don't want you to change to suit the rest of my family."

"I won't. I promise. But your family _are_ rather pushy," she admitted.

"I know they are. And it doesn't help that mam knew we were making love that time. Chances are she brought it up with everyone who came around yesterday. That's probably why they were so curious – they know that we're trying for a baby, so they want to be among the first to know when things start kicking off."

"I can forgive that I guess. My sisters are the same, and to be perfectly honest, I want to be one of the first to know if either of them ever get pregnant."

"I'm sure they'll tell you, Syb. You have the most amazing relationship with the two of them. They both love you and I'd be extremely surprised if either of them didn't tell you when they first found out."

"Mama and papa want to know, too. I don't think it's quite the same with your parents, but mama and papa haven't got any grandchildren yet. If it were to happen to me before Mary or Edith, my parents would never forgive me if I didn't tell them as soon as I knew," Sybil said.

"Surely we can have a little bit of time to ourselves though, can't we? I mean, before we tell everyone. I'm going to want a little bit of time with just you to marvel at what we'll have made."

"Yes, well, I'm not going to find out and ring my parents within five minutes. We'll have plenty of time for the two of us."

"Good," Tom stated.

"Thank you for your coat, by the way," Sybil said softly as she leant into her husband.

"You don't have to thank me for anything at all, love. I'd do anything to make you happy," he stated.

"See, that's why I love you so much. Most men would have ended that with 'except for…'," Sybil said.

"How would you know? You've got no experience to judge that on!" Tom laughed.

"No, but Gwen's been with more than her fair share of men and she and I do actually talk, believe it or not!"

"I suppose. But that doesn't change the fact that everything I said was true," Tom replied. He stopped in his tracks and held the umbrella steady as he pulled Sybil in for a much needed, tender kiss.

* * *

_This is a short chapter, I know, but I have major writers block and I can't think of anything good to write. We're three quarters of the way through this fic now. I hope you're all still enjoying it._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: A Sensual Evening**

Tom carefully lit a series of candles around his and Sybil's bedroom. Some of them were just wax, which he lit for the effect of the flickering flame, but some were also scented with lavender and lily, which Tom knew were Sybil's two favourite scents. There wasn't a particular reason that Tom wanted to give Sybil a sensual evening other than the fact that he loved her beyond words. A few minutes after Tom had lit the candles, he heard the door open and slam closed. "Tom!" Sybil called through the house.

"I'm upstairs love," Tom called back. He could tell that Sybil was either angry or stressed or upset or possibly all three. Tom could hear Sybil trudge up the stairs with a heavy footfall. Tom stood in the doorway to the room and leant on the frame. Sybil didn't look at him as she stormed into the room, completely furious.

"I don't know how the hell I have stayed at that hospital for so…" Sybil trailed off as she entered her bedroom and saw the candles flickering gently, causing the walls to hold gentle orange changing patterns. "Tom," she said softly, turning around to see her husband standing in the doorway and smiling. Sybil tried desperately to ask Tom what was going on, but she couldn't get any of her words out.

"It's because I love you, Sybil," he said, walking up to her and taking her hands. "And, by the sounds of it, you need to let off some stress."

"Yeah, I've had the worst day at work. I was planning on just venting to you, but now that you've got all this going on, this is definitely a better idea."

"I thought it was a good idea," Tom said sweetly and then kissed Sybil gently, trying to make her feel better about things. Once Sybil pulled away, she frowned and said,

"Is that lavender?"

"Yes. And lily. It's the candles."

"Oh, I love how well you know me," Sybil stated in a husky voice.

"Well, we have been together for a while," Tom said suggestively.

"We certainly have," Sybil said, as she wrapped her arms around Tom's back and pulled him into a kiss.

"Are you slightly less stressed now?" Tom said once he'd pulled away.

"I'm getting there, but there's a lot more that you could do to help me get the tension out of me," Sybil said.

"Are people at the hospital even aware that if they're going to irritate anyone it shouldn't be you?"

"On the whole, yes, but everybody's really stressed at the moment. The last couple of days have been really busy and we're all losing the will to live a little bit. It's not their fault really. And honestly, I'm pretty sure that I've got on the wrong side of rather a lot of people today," Sybil admitted.

"Well, we need to do something to get that out of your mind, then, don't we?" Tom said as he moved his hands up Sybil's back to support her. Sybil lifted herself up on the balls of her feet so that she could easily press her lips against his.

Things began to get heated rather quickly. Tom's hands slowly felt their way to the hem of Sybil's shirt and lifted it up over her head. Together, they stumbled their way to the bed and Sybil lay horizontally across it on her back. Tom took off his own T-shirt and hurled it out of the way. He almost jumped onto the bed, with each hand placed carefully either side of Sybil's shoulders. He leant down and kissed across Sybil's jawline. Sybil moved her arms from under Tom and ran her fingers through his hair. Sybil let out low, quiet moans as Tom moved from her jaw to her clavicle. He gently smoothed one hand across her left shoulder and slid her bra strap off, letting her know of his intentions. She arched her back slightly so that the clasp of her bra was no longer pressed against the duvet. Tom slid his hand to Sybil's back and with minimal difficulty undid the hooks and allowed the fabric to fall loose. Sybil took her hands from Tom's neck and pulled the straps down her arms and flung the garment of clothing on the floor. Tom smiled at her, but was soon making Sybil groan rather loudly as he flicked her nipples with his tongue. "Tom!" Sybil said loudly, her words breathless and wanting more. Tom instinctively moved his hands between her hips to unzip her jeans, but he was reminded when he could find neither a button nor a zip, that she wasn't wearing jeans, but a skirt instead. "Oh, the zip's at the back," Sybil informed her husband. Tom gently flipped the two of them over so that Tom was now on his back, but he had more momentum than he thought he did, so Sybil almost landed on her back again on the other side of Tom. But he caught her before her body hit the mattress. "Easy tiger. Keep yourself under control!" Sybil warned with a light-hearted laugh. She stood up with one foot placed on either side of Tom's waist and quickly pulled her skirt, tights and underwear down her legs. Once they were all discarded in a pile on the floor, she knelt on the bed and, with a practised hand, undid Tom's belt and jeans. He lifted his hips and Sybil pulled down his jeans and his boxers in one clean motion. He gently kicked them off and then Sybil lay on top of him, her hands brushing through his hair and his hands exploring her perfect curves. He smiled at her, staring into her gorgeous blue eyes, but within a few seconds, Sybil was grinding her hips against Tom. The two of them were certainly ready for each other. Sybil gently slid her hand over Tom's shaft and then guided him into her. Tom let out incoherent sounds of pleasure and then,

"Oh God, Sybil. Holy crap!" Sybil thrust her hips against Tom's and felt herself sink into release as Tom circled her clit with his fingers. Tom began to thrust his hips up against her, gaining a steady rhythm. He was building Sybil up again to another perfect release.v

"Tom!" Sybil yelled. "Oh my God! Tom! Aah!" Sybil was speeding up her hip movement, and Tom was speeding up his own rhythm to keep up with her. He could feel Tom's member let go within her. After a few more thrusts, Tom could tell that Sybil's body had also let go, so he slid out of her. She fell on her side next to Tom and the two of them stayed silent for a few minutes, breathing extremely heavily. Sybil managed to move her body so that she could place one arm over Tom's chest and rest her head on his shoulder. "You're perfect," Sybil said, plainly.

"That was brilliant, Syb," Tom said between breaths. "How do you do that?"

"I was taught by the best!" she said with a light laugh. She moved so that she could press her lips against his. She tangled her fingers into his sweaty hair and he held her waist softly. She joined her tongue with his and moved her body on top of his. "I love you, Tom," she said quietly when she'd broken apart from him.

"I bet I love you more," he said with a smile.

"I beg to differ!"

Tom then rolled the two of them to the side so that they were both on their sides. Tom gently kissed her forehead and the two of them then fell asleep in each other's embrace, the candles still flickering gently around the room.

* * *

_There are only two more chapters after this. Thanks for still sticking with it. I'm not really thinking straight because I'm ridiculously tired and have been since before New Year. Let me know what you think of this._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Winning and Losing**

Tom rolled the dice and moved the metal boat playing piece forward eight spaces on the Monopoly board. He landed on Whitechapel Road, one of the two cheapest spaces in the game. "Can I have two hundred quid?" Tom asked, referring to the money he gained from passing the 'Go' square. Sybil dealt out two hundred pounds in two one hundred pound notes. "That's such a bad square," Tom said, contemplating if he should buy it or not.

"No it's not. It's cheap and you get rent if I land on it. Sixty quid isn't much. At least not when you compare it to four hundred quid for Mayfair."

"Alright, then. There's sixty," Tom said as he handed over a fifty pound note and two five pound notes of Monopoly money to Sybil, who was being the banker. She put them into their respective piles of money and Tom took the card that proved that he now owned that road. Sybil then rolled the dice and landed on Vine Street.

"No!" Sybil groaned. "You own that don't you?" Tom nodded with a smile that Sybil could tell was only a smile because he was winning. "How much do I owe you?"

"That depends how many houses I have on that street," he said as he picked up the property card, relying on Sybil to tell him how many houses he had.

"Two," she sighed as she looked from Tom to her money. She realised that she didn't have much money – certainly not anywhere near as much money as Tom had.

"Can I have two hundred and twenty pounds please?" Sybil handed over the money to her husband. "Don't look so put out, love," he said.

"Well, I'm losing," Sybil pouted.

"Aww, honey. It's not that bad. You can't win at everything," Tom said.

"I suppose so," Sybil said, looking at the board. Tom shimmied around to her side of the board and tickled her waist to cheer her up a little bit. "Oh, alright," Sybil said, beginning to get more in the spirit of things. "Wait, whose turn is it?"

"Mine. You just landed on my Vine Street, remember."

"Oh yeah," Sybil said and Tom rolled the dice across the board. He managed to roll a double six and landed on Marylebone Station. That was Sybil's property. "I'll have one hundred for that please!" she said smugly, happy to win back some of the money she had had to give her husband.

"A hundred? Really? It's not that much is it?" Tom said, completely shocked at the amount he owed. He looked at her card and said, "Do you own three of the stations already?"

"Mmhm," Sybil confirmed. "I still need to get Kings Cross, but that's the only one."

"Damn it. Oh well," Tom said as he ruffled through his money to find two fifties.

As the game went on Sybil clawed back her lead, almost completely winning, but Tom managed to land on Free Parking and gained a fair amount of money, so he was beginning to make himself safe again. But then he landed on Mayfair – the most expensive property. It belonged to Sybil and she had three houses on it. "I need one thousand four hundred pounds for that," Sybil said with a smile, knowing that she had now won.

"Well, I'm bankrupt now," Tom said with a sigh.

"I know," Sybil said with a grin. "Wait, you can mortgage something," she added, trying to help her husband a little.

"No I can't. I don't have any more properties to mortgage," Tom stated. "You're disgustedly smug!" he said with a laugh.

"I know. I was always competitive when I was a child. Having Mary and dad always made me rather competitive. Neither of them ever wanted to lose, but with me they quite often did, which is why I'm rather a bad loser. I've not had a lot of practice."

"Sybil, you're not 'rather a bad loser'. You have absolutely no idea how to lose gracefully without complaining and going to sulk in the corner."

"Well that's an over exaggeration!" Sybil protested as she began to tidy up the fake money and place it back in the game box.

"No it's not. Not much of one anyway. Earlier on I took some money off you and you were losing and you were really miserable," Tom reminded her.

"Yes, but I've won now, so it doesn't matter," Sybil said, ignoring Tom and getting things sorted back into place.

"You're a monster," Tom said light-heartedly as he wrapped his arms around Sybil from behind to drag her backwards. She screamed quietly as she fell backwards on Tom's body. "You, madam," Tom said, not letting her go as she squirmed in his arms, "are in need of a lesson on how to lose."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sybil asked, still wiggling against Tom's grip.

"I challenge you to a game of chess," Tom stated.

"But I can't do strategy games," Sybil claimed.

"I'll go easy on you," Tom stated.

"Fine," Sybil said. "But you've got to let go of me first!" Tom let go of her reluctantly. "Go and get the board then and I'll get this packed up." Tom swiftly left the room and Sybil put everything in their designated areas in the Monopoly box, ending with the board and the rarely needed instructions.

Tom came in without a chess board. Sybil frowned at him. "I can't find the board, so we can't play."

"That's fine," Sybil said, actually thankful not to have to attempt a game of chess – a game she had never been good at.

"Come here," Tom said, holding out his hands. Sybil walked towards him and took his hands in hers. They stood hand in hand, Sybil looking up at Tom through her eyelashes.

"I love you," Sybil said quickly. "Even if I am a sore loser, I do still love you."

"I know, love," Tom said as he pulled her into a hug. Sybil wrapped her arms around Tom's torso, joining them together behind his back. She lifted her head and planting a firm kiss on his lips. He gladly returned the favour, and a few minutes later they were snuggled together on the sofa, ready to enjoy the remainder of their day together.

* * *

_I hope you're all still enjoying this. Please leave a review if you have time to do so._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: A Christmas Miracle**

Tom walked in the door having arrived home from work. He dumped his things in the hall and walked through the house to find Sybil, who was watching an old episode of Doctor Who as she sat on the sofa hugging her knees. "Hi," Sybil said when she looked up at her husband.

"Hey love," Tom said, bending down to give her a quick kiss. "Are you alright?" he said as he threaded his fingers through her hair. He knew Sybil well enough to know that something wasn't quite right. Sybil opened her mouth to answer, but Tom kept talking and didn't give her a chance to say anything. "Do you want a glass of wine? We still haven't opened that bottle from my parents when they came round for New Year's," Tom asked his wife as he stood next to her, half concentrating on what he was saying and half staring at the Sontarans on the screen by the wall.

"No, I'm fine. I'll give it a miss. Actually," Sybil said, about to continue with her answer. Tom snapped his line of vision to Sybil and furrowed his brow. Sybil laughed as Tom felt her forehead with the back of his hand as if she were ill. It was almost unknown for Sybil to refuse the offer of a glass of wine. "No, really, I'm alright. I just…" Tom looked at her as if to say _what harm can it do?_ But Sybil then wriggled her body and stood in front of Tom, completely ignoring the tenth Doctor. "Tom," she said firmly to get his attention. "Think about it. Go through the reasons that I might not want a glass of wine," she said, not wanting to simply give the game away. Sybil could see the realisation cross Tom's face. His eyes widened, first with fear, but then with joy. He stared at her in disbelief, his smile growing by the second.

"Are you really, umm," Tom asked slowly.

"Yes! We're having a baby!" Sybil said, delight in her voice.

"But… how?" Tom pondered aloud.

"Come on love, you know all about that. You were there!" Tom lurched forward and almost completely knocked Sybil over, causing her to use her core muscles to prevent her from falling back on the settee. He squeezed her tightly until Sybil told him that he was restricting her breathing and that breathing was really rather an important part of her life. Tom immediately let go, not wanting to hurt Sybil in any way, but wouldn't let go of her hands and opened his mouth to apologise, but couldn't get any words out. After a few seconds looking lovingly at a highly shocked Tom, Sybil said with a light hearted laugh and a smile, "A cup of tea would be nice, though." Tom smiled gently, but wouldn't let go of Sybil's hands.

"How far along are you?" Tom asked, ignoring her mention of a cup of tea. He had too many questions. There were too many things that he needed to know – his head was buzzing with things that needed answers.

"About three weeks," Sybil replied, looking into Tom's eyes. Tom simply grinned at his wife, taking in everything about that moment.

"Are you serious?" Tom asked, beginning to doubt his understanding. Maybe this was a dream. Maybe Sybil was teasing him. Maybe Sybil had said something completely different that Tom had got confused because this is what he truly wanted.

"Yes, I'm serious! In about eight months' time, you're going to have a child to look after," Sybil said, confirming his beliefs.

"But you've been drinking wine for the last three weeks," Tom reminded her.

"Well I didn't know about it then. I popped into the doctor's today while you were at work because I was a bit suspicious and they told me this!" Sybil said.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up if it was nothing, that's all. I know how much you want children and I didn't want you to be disappointed." Tom wrapped his arms around Sybil and squeezed her into his body. He pressed a soft but purposeful kiss through her hair as she slid his arms behind him. Sybil then lifted her head and kissed him on the lips. "What about that cup of tea then?" Tom smiled at her and nodded. He walked into the kitchen with her following him and said,

"I'm still confused about how that happened." He flicked the switch on the kettle and got two mugs down from the shelf; one for him and one for Sybil.

"Well, I can give you an anatomy lesson if you think you really need it, but I'm pretty sure you know what had to go where for me to get in this state," she said, half seriously and half sarcastically. As Tom stood by the kitchen surface, waiting for the kettle to boil and filling the mugs with teabags and milk, Sybil stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle as he had done to her so many times before.

"I think I've had more than enough anatomy lessons from you in the last couple of years!" Tom said, leaning slightly into Sybil's touch.

"Well, that's what I thought, but apparently you've forgotten everything about my lessons," Sybil said.

"Maybe I have, but it's hard to keep any information in my head when I have such a gorgeous teacher," Tom said, pouring the boiling water into the two mugs and stirring each of them, pressing the teabags against the sides of the mugs. He then turned around in Sybil's arms and gave her a deep kiss.

"That's nice to know. I guess it can sometimes be quite hard to teach someone who's so handsome," Sybil said with a cheeky grin.

"There are some things that one just can't help though," Tom said. "My parents gave me these looks."

"Yes, alright, but you're the one who keeps yourself in good shape," Sybil accused.

"I suppose that's true. Well, I can stop if you really want me to," Tom said.

"Don't you dare!" Sybil said. "That's one of the reasons I fell in love with you. You've got the looks as well as the intelligence."

"We're rather well matched really aren't we?" Tom said, proudly.

"We are indeed. And I love you lots."

"And I love you more," Tom said, holding Sybil tightly.

* * *

_I've just finished writing this, and I haven't checked through it because I don't have time, so there's bound to have been a ton of mistakes, so sorry for that. I really hope you're enjoyed this story if you've read this far. A lot of it was rushed and kind of makeshift, but I don't think all of it's absolutely atrocious. I need to go and decorate my dad's birthday cake now, but thank you all for sticking with it this far and thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites._


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